Eye of the Needle (episode)
Voyager discovers a wormhole that leads back to the Alpha Quadrant. Summary When the crew discovers subspace emissions often indicative of a wormhole, they are elated that they may have found a way home. Unfortunatley, the wormhole is discovered to be only 30 centimeters in diameter, a little too small for ''Voyager'' to fly through, as Tom Paris put it. Tuvok, however, states that it might be large enough for a microprobe to penetrate the aperture and see where the wormhole leads. They do so, only to have the microprobe get stuck in a interspatial eddy inside the wormhole. Dismayed, the crew then realizes that someone on the other side of the wormhole is scanning the probe. Desperate to get their attention, Captain Janeway tries to bounce a subspace signal off the probe, which could act like a message relay to get the message through the wormhole. The crew has no way to know whether the signal reached the other side or if the person there recieved it, unless that person sends a message back to them. After a few minutes of intense waiting, Tuvok reports that Voyager is receiving a faint signal coming from the wormhole. Janeway orders it on speakers, but it is badly scrambled. Harry Kim is successful in clearing it up, and the crew hears a message from the Romulan cargo vessel Talvath in the Alpha Quadrant. Using more ingenuity, the captain establishes two-way communication with the Romulan, who is highly suspicious of a Federation starship claiming to be in the Delta Quadrant. After Captain Janeway assures him that they really are 70,000 light years away, the pair establishs a visual link between them. As they talk face to face, Captain Janeway asks him to relay messages to Starfleet and their families. He agrees, and says that he will wait for the transmission. Suddenly, B'Elanna Torres runs onto the bridge, asking Janeway to talk to her in her ready room. Once inside, Torres excitedly tells the Captain that it might be possible to use the probe as a transmitter to transport the entire crew back to the Alpha Quadrant, onto the Romulan's ship. When the Captain asks the Romulan if they could do so, however, he declines, stating that the Romulan government would never allow Starfleet crew on one of their ships. He does, however, offer to transport over to Voyager. Voyager makes a series of test transports to the Romulan's ship, all of which are successful. Finally, the Romulan transports over to Voyager. As Janeway suggests that the crew prepare to leave Voyager once and for all, Tuvok declares that they shouldnt do that just yet. He then turns to the Romulan and asks him the year. At first the Romulan seems sceptical, but then answers that by Federation calenders, the year is 2351. Tuvok concludes that the wormhole is a rift in not just space, but time as well. They have beamed the Romulan from 2351 to 2371. In Janeway's ready room, it is made clear that if Voyager's crew transports through the wormhole, they will be beaming 20 years into the past. With no other choice, Captain Janeway asks the Romulan to transmit their messages to Starfleet, in twenty years. The Romulan beams back through the collapsing wormhole, and Voyager's link to the Alpha Quadrant is lost. As Janeway thinks, Tuvok delivers a saddening discovery. A data check on the Romulan scientist indicated that the man died in 2367, four years before Voyager left the Alpha Quadrant, and it is unlikely that their messages made it to Starfleet. Ever relentless, Captain Janeway sets a course for home. Log Entries *''Captain’s log, stardate 48579.4. The crew has been scanning constantly for anomalies that might help us shorten our journey home. Ensign Kim has reported an exciting discovery – a subspace disturbance which may be a wormhole. '' *''Captain’s log, supplemental. Encouraged by his success in transmitting a signal to the Alpha Quadrant, Mr. Kim is investigating the possibility of establishing a voice link with whoever is at the other end of the wormhole. '' Memorable Quotes "There is of course a 75% chance the wormhole will not lead to the Alpha Quadrant." "Very true. But you could also say there's a one in four chance it will. Those aren't bad odds." : - Tuvok, Janeway Background Information * Ethan Phillips (Neelix) does not appear in this episode. * This is the first of three appearances by the Romulans in Voyager episodes. Links and References Main Cast *Kate Mulgrew as Kathryn Janeway *Robert Beltran as Chakotay *Roxann Dawson as B'Elanna Torres *Jennifer Lien as Kes *Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris *Robert Picardo as The Doctor *Tim Russ as Tuvok *Garrett Wang as Harry Kim Guest Stars *Vaughn Armstrong as Telek R'Mor *Tom Virtue as Walter Baxter Co-Stars *Tarik Ergin as Ayala (uncredited) References Alpha Quadrant, Arethian flu, covariant isolator, Federation Astronomical Committee, Hargrove, Harry Kim wormhole, Kyoto, microprobe, micro-wormhole, Miral, Romulans, Romulan Astrophysical Academy, Romulan Senate, Romulan science ship, Romulan troop ship, Sector 1385, signal amplifier, spinach juice, subspace field mechanics, Talvath, temporal displacement, temporal shift, test cylinder, John Torres, transporter, vegetable bouillon, verteron, ''Voyager'', USS, wormhole Category:VOY episodes de:Das Nadelöhr es:Eye of the Needle nl:Eye of the Needle